Brett

Harris

Harris went 0-for-2 in his lone game with the Red Sox after being acquired from the Athletics in a trade earlier this week. His departure opens a roster spot for Eduardo Rivera to start Saturday’s game in place of an injured Ranger Suarez. He should return in a bench role later this month.

Harris will start at first base against the White Sox on Thursday after Willson Contreras fouled a ball off of his foot on Wednesday and had to leave the game. There is no word yet on whether or not Contreras will need to go on the injured list, but, for one day at least, Harris will take his place at first base.

The trade was made official earlier on Wednesday. Harris is merely emergency infield depth for the injury-plagued Red Sox after being waived by the Athletics last weekend. The 28-year-old has hit .194/.307/.289 across 213 major-league plate appearances since debuting in 2024. He’ll head to Triple-A Worcester for now.

We thought the 28-year-old Harris would likely clear waivers, but he never even got there, as a Red Sox team dealing with a few infield injuries thought it was worth picking him up. The 28-year-old Harris has hit .194/.307/.289 in 213 plate appearances since debuting for the A’s in 2024. He has options left, so the Red Sox could stash him in Triple-A. If the Red Sox were to activate him immediately, it could be at Andrew Monasterio’s expense. The return for the A’s, Hansen, was a 2024 20th-round pick. The 24-year-old has a 4.75 ERA in High-A this year.

The 28-year-old Harris has spent his entire career in the A’s organization since being drafted in the seventh round in 2021 and has hit .194/.307/.289 in 213 major league plate appearances since debuting in 2024. He is at .336/.441/.537 in 37 games for Triple-A Las Vegas this year, but it still seems pretty likely that he’ll clear waivers.

Harris returns to the minors after going 0-for-4 across five games with the Athletics since April 28. He’s merely a reserve infielder at this stage of his development.

Harris returns to the big leagues with third baseman Max Muncy hitting the shelf with a fractured finger. The 27-year-old has gotten into 68 games at the highest level since 2024.

Harris came into camp as part of an “open competition” for the starting third base job, but went 4-for-21 (.190) with six strikeouts. He will now head back to Triple-A, where he slashed .282/.369/.500 with 12 home runs and seven steals in 59 games last season.

Muncy fractured his hand last season and posted a .214/.259/.379 line in 220 plate appearances split between third base and second base. The A’s were reportedly close to acquiring Nolan Arenado this offseason, so it makes sense that they’re not exactly handing the 23-year-old Muncy the job. Neither of the three has much of a major-league track record to this point, but Muncy would have the highest upside in AL-only leagues.

Arenado was ultimately traded to the Diamondbacks, which is where he told the Cardinals preferred to play, but the Athletics “would have absorbed more money than the Diamondbacks.” While the Athletics could still pursue options like Eugenio Suarez and Yoan Moncada, Rosenthal reports that they “intend to use Max Muncy at third base, with Brett Harris and Darell Hernaiz also in the mix.”